A nude woman with long hair flowing down her back grasps a tree branch with her right hand and bends it downward in order to more easily pluck the green fruit dangling at its tip with her left hand. Her white body contrasts starkly with the darker tones of the surrounding landscape. The less conspicuous figure of a serpent with the head of a bearded man coils about the trunk of the tree next to the woman and fixes her with his stare.

Subject Matter

This panel represents Eve in the Garden of Eden tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 3). The serpent appears with the leering head of a bearded man to demonstrate his diabolical nature. This panel originally formed part of a piece of furniture, perhaps a type of marriage chest known as a cassone, where it would have been complemented by other painted decoration, including a companion image of Adam.